Ah-Hah Moments (Week 2)

This week, we had the opportunity to participate in a Twitter Chat with our classmates and other professionals, reading various articles, and watch some videos. Here are some quotes that especially stuck out to me while completing these tasks.

---

Twitter Chat: -A fellow future educator by the name of Maeve Dillon brought up how dress codes imposed specifically on women "is just a gateway. It teaches children that women should be judged by what they wear which can lead to a lot of other judgements such as women dress a certain way for men or attention." This particular quote gave me an ah-hah moment not because it is something I hadn't previously considered, but because it's something that I am passionate about and want to make active change for this issue when I begin my career. I want to work with my coworkers and higher-ups in an effort to make the school/school district a safe environment for women. Middle school students, in my case, are one of the more vulnerable populations to this because they are still navigating their identity, and if they are made to feel less-than or a certain assumption is made about them because of what they wear I feel that this could be permanently damaging.

-Another statement made during the Twitter chat that stuck out to me was by a peer named Cameron Canales, they claimed that we should not "stray away 'touchy topics,'" and I could not agree more with this. I interpreted this mainly as issues such as oppression for any and all marginalized groups or particularly racism. While these topics are introduced to younger pupils, in my personal experience they have been severely sugarcoated. We need to be honest with our students about the existence and prevalence of these issues because it will inspire them to do better and treat others with respect.

-I think Ashley Coleman, another future educator, brought up an important point when they said "I committed to staying open-minded and willing to learn new and different things... we are all learning from each other." In this case, the "we" refers to the relationship between student and teacher, and I wholeheartedly agree. I cannot stress enough the importance of learning with your students, rather than it being a one-way flow of knowledge. When I am a teacher, I am going to employ this ideology to the best of my abilities so my students know just because I am however old and have whatever degree, I am still learning and we as humans are constantly learning.

"Part 1 Intro We Got This:" -The author writes, "This narrative does not allow heroes to be imperfect or to be nuanced. It does not allow them to grow tired, to fail, to learn publicly, or to grieve." I really appreciate this quote in specific because I feel that the burnout that unfortunately comes along with many who pursue the education field is not discussed sufficiently. While I view teachers as heroes myself, I believe we need to adopt a more nuanced perspective, as the "This Ain't Everybody's Hero Story" states; we need to humanize our educators and allow them to take time for themselves just as much as they do for us.

-"Often, you'll have to deal, in some public way, with your own flaws." This is another important quote from the same article that yet again emphasizes the humanization of not only teachers, but humans as a whole. Being an educator is a very vulnerable career in the way that you have students who look up to you in a sense, and as much as you always want to put on a smiling face, this is not realistic. Your flaws will be on display as much as your talents, as the quote implies, and you must accept that they are apart of you and not always able to be changed. Once you can accept this about yourself, so will your students.

-Finally, a quote that was TRULY an ah-hah moment for me, is when the texts reads "constant sacrifice is the expected method for doing this work well." This caught my attention because I feel like the depiction of educators as these consistently selfless entities can prove toxic. The article dives into this idea as well, but in my own words this resonates with me so much because while our job is inherently selfless, we need to be selfish every once and a while for our own sanity. Not necessarily meaning we translate selfishness into our job, but at least in our leisure time, or "selfish" in the sense that we don't put up with constant belittlement in our careers. "Constant belittlement" sounds dramatic, but I just mean that teachers are held to a standard where we can take it but can't dish it, and I think that is wrong. Everyone has the right to stick up for themselves when necessary.

"Students Speak Up: What Bias Means to Them:" -A few of the students claimed they did not know what bias is at all. This is an ah-hah moment for me because I believe this should have been a discussion in their classrooms at least once prior to their middle school years. Especially given the fact the participants were all BIPOC, they should be taught about a word that so largely, and unjustly, affects them. However, I think they very well know what bias is, they just don't recognize it as a word. They know bias from experience, not by definition.

-One student made an analogy to a brand of paper. They said that, for instance, this certain brand of paper tears easily, so no one should buy from that company. They related this to their own school and how it has a reputation of being "unaccredited and ghetto." This, to me, proves a profound understanding of the implications caused by bias and how it can cause someone to dismiss an entire group based upon something they may have just heard in passing. As future educators, we need to take this into consideration when picking schools for ourselves or when teaching a diverse group of students, since we all have implicit biases whether or not we want to admit them.

-Another student made the point of saying they were more motivated to stay in school because "some people might doubt black people for being educated." This stood out to me because it emphasizes my belief in how we need to reassure our faith in our students and dismantle any and all implicit biases. It's truly inspiring to hear this from a young student; we need to hear our students and their feelings out more than anything. One snide comment can make or break a student's drive and we should be doing everything in our power to prevent that from happening.